Red Sox Journal: Ortiz still rehabbing injured Achilles

When David Ortiz arrives in Fort Myers next week, he will continue his rehab work as he comes back from the right Achilles injury that ended his season last summer.

Comment

By
TIM BRITTON
Posted Feb. 8, 2013 @ 4:33 pm

FORT MYERS, Fla. — When David Ortiz arrives in Fort Myers next week, he will continue his rehab work as he comes back from the right Achilles injury that ended his season last summer.

“He’s still going through some agility work and some rehab with the Achilles,” manager John Farrell said on Friday. “That’s one of the areas where the workload and the volume of it, we’ll monitor closely. Once he comes in and gets the most current examination, our medical staff will be informative to us on what would be a recommended path at that point.”

Ortiz, of course, missed all but one game after injuring that Achilles on an Adrian Gonzalez home run last July 16. Over the winter, he signed a two-year deal with the Red Sox that does include incentives based off the health of his Achilles.

Farrell did say that he was not worried about Ortiz’s availability for Opening Day. The designated hitter, though, might not be ready to play when spring training games start Feb. 21.

Seven starts apiece

Farrell said on Friday that he plans on giving each member of the presumed starting rotation seven starts during the spring.

Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Ryan Dempster, John Lackey and Felix Doubront are widely viewed as the starting five for Boston in 2013.

Including their opening doubleheader with Boston College and Northeastern on Feb. 21, the Red Sox play 39 games this spring — an increase over the 35 they had played in each of the last two years.

Farrell suggested Friday that the regular starters won’t begin pitching in games until the fifth game of the spring season — which comes out to the Feb. 25 split-squad games against Toronto and Tampa Bay.

In addition to the aforementioned five pitchers, Alfredo Aceves and Franklin Morales will also be extended as starters during the spring to provide depth.

The one pitcher Farrell said that might get an additional start is Lackey. That seems counterintuitive given that Lackey is coming off Tommy John surgery, but Farrell said the veteran could use the extra mound time after being away for so long.

Lackey has turned heads already this spring with a slimmed-down physique.

“He’s gone through a transformation,” Farrell said. “Clearly he’s dedicated himself to taking care of his body physically and the rehab work that he’s gone through from an arm standpoint. Where it really comes through at this point in camp, just being around him, is the confidence which he speaks from. He’s in a good place right now.”

Early appearance

The joke was too easy to make.

Pedro Martinez never got to spring training this early as a player.

There was Martinez Friday, three days before the first official workout for Red Sox pitchers and catchers, wearing his team-issued T-shirt and taking in long toss and side sessions with a wide smile.

Even now, Martinez’s exact role — his title is special assistant to the general manager — isn’t clear. But Farrell feels having the three-time Cy Young Award winner around camp certainly can’t hurt.

“For any young pitcher, to be able to sit and have a conversation with Pedro, to tap into those experiences, can only be beneficial,” Farrell said.

As for what Farrell wants Martinez to be doing in camp?

“It’s an open book right now,” the manager said. “He’s been an open book toward it, wanting and willing to give that experience and that guidance any way he can. He’s respectful of the coaching staff and the structure that’s in place. We’ve got a very good resource to tap into.”

What blizzard?

The Red Sox don’t expect the blizzard that hit New England to influence the start of spring training.

Most Red Sox, of course, aren’t coming to Fort Myers from Boston, with Will Middlebrooks one prominent exception. Morales is currently in Connecticut, and Farrell said it wouldn’t surprise him if the left-hander were delayed a day in returning to Fort Myers. Still, the manager figures Morales will be in town in time for the first scheduled workout on Tuesday.

The Red Sox will conduct team meetings on Sunday and physicals on Monday before the official report date Tuesday. The first full-squad workout is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 14.

Helping out in Newtown

While Andrew Bailey was glued to the television watching the unfolding tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, he took notice of what surrounded him.

Toys. Diapers. Everything a reminder of his new role as a father.

“I caught myself look around and seeing baby paraphernalia lying around and I said, ‘I can’t imagine what these parents are going through,’ ” Bailey recalled on Friday. “You have to keep praying for those families that they can find the strength to move on and keep persevering.”

Six weeks after the shooting at Sandy Hook, Bailey and fellow Red Sox and Connecticut residents Craig Breslow and Matt Barnes took a trip to Newtown. It was part of a baseball clinic that was put together in the town on Jan. 27.

“It was nice to go up there and see the kids in such good spirits and meeting a lot of the kids who were at the elementary school. For me, it was just doing my part of what I could to help those kids ease away from that memory,” Bailey said. “It was all baseball. It was a very nice day.”

Former Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine was also in attendance.

Bailey hopes that his work with Newtown isn’t done.

“Hopefully we can do something to maybe have them up to a game during the season,” he said. “Whatever we can do for them.”

Newtown High will play a baseball game on April 20 against Pawtucket’s Tolman High at McCoy Stadum.